Aberrant methylation of DNA-damage-inducible transcript 3 promoter is a common event in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

The epigenetic changes of tumor suppressor genes are now recognized as an alternative mechanism contributing to the development of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The expression of DNA-damage-inducible transcript 3 (DDIT3) gene has been found down-regulated in myeloid malignancies including MDS. In this study, we performed methylation-specific PCR (MSP) to investigate the methylation status of the CpG island of DDIT3 promoter region in MDS. Aberrant methylation of DDIT3 was detected in 31.8% (21/66) of the cases analyzed. No correlation was found between DDIT3 promoter methylation and clinical parameters and MDS subtypes. Although the estimated 50% survival time of the methylated DDIT3 group was shorter than that of unmethylated group (12.0 months vs. 23.0 months), the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.137). These findings suggest that the hypermethylation of DDIT3 promoter might be one of early events in the development of MDS.